Centrifugal compressor

ABSTRACT

A centrifugal compressor for use in turbo-refrigerators, for example, has a motor casing frame section in which a drive motor is accomodated and a gear casing frame section in which a multiplying gear mechanism is accomodated. The multiplying gear mechanism is connected at its input side with the drive motor and at its output side with an impeller. The mechanism has a first shaft including a rotor shaft of the drive motor and a gear shaft carrying a multiplying gear and separably connected directly with the rotor shaft, a second shaft mounting the impeller and having a pinion meshing with the speed multiplying gear, and bearings mounted on bearing casing frame sections for supporting the first and second shafts at their opposed ends, respectively. The motor casing frame section, gear casing frame section and bearing casing frame section are integrally formed as a unitary body.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 789,019,filed Oct. 18, 1985, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a centrifugal compressor, and, moreparticularly, to a centrifugal compressor for use in turbo-refrigeratorswhich enables significant reduction in the manufacturing cost.

There has been an increased demand for higher performance, morecompactness and cost reduction in turbo refrigerator construction.Accordingly, when centrifugal compressor is used with aturbo-refrigerator, etc., there has also been an increased demand forfurther compactness and cost reduction.

Attempts have been made to meet the above demands by providing a drivemotor of the smallest size possible appropriate for the centrifugalcompressor specified. Nevertheless, it is still necessary for furthercost reduction to provide a structure of the type which allows for areduction in the number of parts or simplification of the manufacturingprocess.

In a conventional centrifugal compressor for use in turbo-chargers suchas, for example, proposed in Japanese Laid Open Application No.64189/80, the drive system casing is divided into a motor casing sectionfor accommodating a drive motor, and a gear casing section foraccommodating a multiplying gear, with the gear casing section and themotor casing section being axially separated or spaced from one another.Furthermore, the gear casing section is connected to the motor casingsection by, for example, fastening bolts applied through bolt holes in aflange welded to an abutting end of the motor casing section, withO-rings inserted between the flange and the gear casing section foreffecting a hermetic sealing.

Accordingly, with a conventional centrifugal compressor of theaforementioned type, the provision of, for example, fastening bolts,O-rings, etc., necessary for connection of the two casing sections,results not only in an increase in the number of parts but also in anincrease in the manufacturing costs by virtue of the need to increasethe manufacturing processes for, for example, machining bolt holes inthe flange or machining contact surfaces of the flange. Moreover, it isdifficult to ensure an accurate fitting of the multiplying gearmechanism relative to the drive motor.

Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a centrifugalcompressor for use in, for example, a turbo-refrigerator a reduction inwhich enables reducing the manufacturing cost through a reduction in theworking processes involved in the machining and assembly of thecentrifugal compressor.

According to the invention, a centrifugal compressor is providedcomprising a multiplying gear mechanism including a first shaft having amultiplying gear and directly connected with the rotor of a drive motor,with a second shaft mounting an impeller and having a pinion meshingwith the multiplying gear. Bearings respectively support the first andsecond shafts, with the first and second shafts and bearings beingaccomodated within a casing. The first shaft includes a rotor shaft ofthe drive motor and a gear shaft carrying the multiplying gear anddetachably connected directly with the rotor shaft of the drive motor.The casing includes a motor casing frame section, a gear casing framesection and bearing casing frame sections respectively accomodating thedrive motor, multiplying mechanism and bearings and is integrally formedas a unitary body.

The invention will now be described of its embodiments in more detailswith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a centrifugal compressor foruse in a turbo-refrigerator embodied according to the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a graphical illustration of bearing load conditions occurringin the centrifugal compressor of the present invention and that of theprior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a casing, generally designated by the referencenumeral at (1), includes a motor casing frame section (2) foraccomodating a drive motor generally designated by the reference numeral(5), a gear casing frame section (3) for accomodating a multiplying gearmechanism generally designated by the reference numeral (6), and an oilseparating chamber casing frame section (4) for defining an oilseparating chamber (7) therein. The drive motor (5) has a stator (8)secured to the motor casing frame section (2) and a rotor (9) rotatablysupported with a certain gap from the stator. The multiplying gearmechanism (6) has a multiplying gear (10) and a pinion (11) adapted tomesh with the gear (10).

The multiplying gear (10) is carried by a gear shaft (12) formedintegral therewith and detachably connected directly with a rotor shaft(9a) of the drive motor (59) by a bolt (13), to provide a first shaftrotatably supported in the gear casing frame section (3) by plainbearings (16) and (17) mounted on bearing casing frame sections (14) and(15), respectively. A second shaft or pinion shaft (18) has an impeller(51) securely fixed at its end remote from the motor (5) by a furtherbolt (50), with the second shaft being rotatably supported in the gearcasing frame section (3) by plain bearings (21) and (22) mounted onbearing casing frame sections (19) and (20), respectively. At the otherend of the second shaft opposite from the impeller (51), a thrustsupport or collar (23) is fixed by a still further bolt (24) to bearagainst thrusts of the shaft.

In the above-described arrangement, the casing (1) includes the motorcasing frame section (2), gear casing frame section (3), oil separatingchamber casing frame section (4) and bearing supporting frame sections(14, 15) and (19, 20) which are all integrally formed as a unitary body.Further, the casing (1) has side plates (25) and (26) for sealinglyclosing side openings (25a) and (26a) and a closure plate (28) forsealingly closing an access opening for the multiplying gear (10),whereby both of the drive motor (5) and the multiplying gear mechanism(6) are accommodated as closed in the casing 1, the accommodating spacebeing sealed from the outside air and from the impeller side.

Since the motor casing frame section (2) and gear casing frame section(3) are formed in one piece dispensing with joint means that would beotherwise required to connect the two frame sections, the cost involvedin the assembly and manufacture can be reduced while the quality ofhermetical sealing of the accomodation is enhanced.

The operation of assembling the thus constructed centrifugal compressorfor turbo-refrigerator will now be described.

First, with the side plates (25) and (26) removed, the plain bearings(16) and (17) are brought into the gear casing frame section (3) and aremounted on the respective bearing casing frame sections (14) and (15).Subsequently, the plain bearings (21) and (22) are temporarily rotatablymounted on the respective journal portions of the pinion shaft (18), andthen the pinion shaft (18) having the pinion (11) is inserted into thegear casing frame section (3) together with the plain bearings (21) and(22) through the side opening (26a) where the side plate (26) is to berestored later, and the plain bearings (21) and (22) are eventuallyfitted in predetermined positions on the respective bearing casing framesections (19) and (20).

In this instance, although the pinion shaft (18) has the thrust collar(23) coaxially secured to the end of the shaft remote from the impeller(51) to be mounted later, and the collar (23) has a diameter greaterthan that of the bearing (22), there will be no inconvenience or problemin the steps of mounting the pinion shaft as described above, becausethe plain bearings (21) and (22) are previously temporarily mounted onthe journal portions before the fastening of the thrust collar (23) ismade.

For the assembly of the drive motor (5), the stator (8) is inserted intothe motor casing frame section (2) through the side opening (25a) wherethe side plate (25) is to be restored later, and is fixed in position onthe inner circumference of the motor casing frame (2).

Subsequently, the rotor (9) is similarly inserted through the sideopening (25a) and temporarily supported on the plain bearing (17).

On the other hand, the gear shaft (12) having the multiplying gear (10)is inserted through the access opening (27) into the gear casing framesection (3) with the closure plate (28) removed. Then, the gear shaft(12) is temporarily supported on the plain bearing (16) while providingintermeshing engagement between the gear (10) and the pinion (11) aspreviously mounted.

At the same time, one end of the gear shaft (12) near the drive motor(5) which has been temporarily supported on the bearing (7) is broughtinto engagement with the end of the rotor shaft (9a) remote from thedrive motor (5), and the two shafts are firmly connected at their endsby the fastening bolt (13).

As compared with the conventional procedure in which a gear is mountedon the end of an integral gear shaft portion or an extension of therotor shaft of the drive motor, the system of the present invention inwhich the gear shaft (12) and rotor shaft (9a) separated from each otherare connected together at a position between the respective bearingsupon the assembly operation insures substantial reduction of theassembly cost and working hours to a greater extent.

Specifically, according to the invention, some equipment such ashydraulic apparatus for press fitting of the gear can be dispensed with,and further the facilitation of the assembling procedure reduces workinghours.

Moreover, it is to be noted that with the conventional construction, thegear is necessarily supported by bearings in a cantilever or overhangingfashion, however, according to the invention, as shown in the embodimentof FIG. 1, the multiplying gear (10) is located between the two bearings(16) and (17), so that the shaft system can be stabilized againstvibration.

Turning now back to the assembling procedure, after the rotor shaft (9a)of the drive motor (5) and the gear shaft (12) are connected together tocomplete the first shaft, the access opening (27) is sealingly closed bythe closure plate (28) and the side openings (25a) and (26a) are alsosealingly closed by the side plates (25) and (26), thereby completingthe assembly of those parts to be accomodated in the unitary casing (1).

Thereafter, the impeller (51) is fixed to one end of the pinion shaft(18) by the bolt (50), and the scroll (52) is mounted on the casing (1),and the guide vane (53) is fixed, thereby completing the assembly of thecentrifugal compressor.

In the embodiment as shown, the pinion shaft (18) and gear shaft (12)are arranged with respect to the rotational direction such that the gearreactions produced from the pinion (11) to the gear (10) be directedsubstantially in a fixed direction. This aims at the stabilization ofvibrations in the system by reducing the fluctuations of load imposedupon the bearing (16).

Assuming that the gear shaft (12) and pinion shaft (18) rotate in thedirection of arrows shown in FIG. 1, the bearing (16) is acted upon by aforce F in the direction of arrow which is the resultant of the gearreaction F_(G) and a bearing load F_(R) caused by the weight of the gearshaft (9), (9a), (10), and (12).

Since the bearing load F_(R) determined by the weight of the first shaft(9), (9a), (10) and (12) remains constant through F_(G) varies inmagnitude depending on the loading condition, the resultant force F onlyvaries in a relatively narrow range determined by the operating pressureangle (α) of the tooth engagement of the gear (10), and its directioncan be considered to remain substantially unaltered, and further theforce F acts in a direction such as to increase loads on the bearings(16) and (17).

Since the small and unstable bearing loads may cause unstable vibrationse.g. oil whirls, the provision of the resultant force F as shown in FIG.2 implies that stabilization of vibrations has been achieved.

In the case of the conventional practice, on the other hand, the gearreaction represents F'_(G), just opposite to F_(G), thus producing aresultant force F'. F' varies in a broader angular range of 180° minus αand limited in magnitude to a smaller value, resulting in reducedbearing loads. This was undesirable for the stabilization of vibrations.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the invention iseffective in realization of cost reduction through cutdown of the numberof necessary steps involved in the preparation of component parts andtheir assembly, and in achievement of vibrational stabilization byrendering the bearing loads unidirectional.

Though in the embodiment the invention has been described as applied toa centrifugal compressor for turbo-refrigerators, the centrifugalcompressor of the present invention can be of general use in a range ofproducts wherein equal effects can be expected by the practice of theinvention.

Also, though the gear (10) on the first shaft has been shown in FIG. 1as integral with the gear shaft (12), a separate multiplying gear may beprepared and fitted on the gear shaft. It should be noted that in thiscase, the multiplying gear also can be positioned between the twobearings to thereby provide a vibrationally stable shaft system.

Further, the manner of the connection between the rotor shaft and thegear shaft in the first shaft, the type of thrust bearing in the secondshaft, the structure of the bearing casing frame sections, etc. are notlimited to those forms as shown in FIG. 1, but may be designed orconfigured in other forms inasmuch as the similar inventive effects canbe expected.

Accordingly, the invention provides a centrifugal compressor forturbo-refrigerators, etc. of the type which can reduce cost by cutdownof the number of necessary steps involved in the fabrication ofcomponent parts and their assembly.

What is claimed:
 1. A centrifugal compressor comprising:a drive motoraccommodated in a motor casing frame section and comprising a stator anda rotor; a multiplying gear mechanism accommodated in a gear casingframe section and comprising a multiplying gear and a pinion meshingwith said multiplying gear, said multiplying gear mechanism beingconnected at an input side thereof with said drive motor; an impellerconnected with said multiplying gear mechanism; a rotor shaft formounting said rotor in said motor casing frame section rotatablysupported by a single bearing mounted on said gear casing frame sectionand extended into said gear casing frame section; a gear shaft formounting said multiplying gear rotatably supported at one end thereof byanother single bearing mounted on said gear casing frame sectionopposite to said first mentioned bearing, said gear shaft and said rotorshaft being directly coupled with each other between said multiplyinggear and said first-mentioned bearing to constitute a first shaft; asecond shaft for mounting said pinion rotatably supported at both endsthereof by bearings mounted on said gear casing frame section; a sideopening for said drive motor provided at said motor casing framesection; a side plate for sealingly closing said opening; a further sideopening for said pinion provided on said gear casing frame section; afurther side plate for sealingly closing said further opening; an accessopening for said multiplying gear provided on said gear casing framesection; and a closure plate for sealingly closing said access opening;and wherein said motor casing frame section is integrally formed withsaid gear casing frame section.
 2. A centrifugal compressor according toclaim 1, wherein said second shaft has a thrust support detachablymounted thereon at one end thereof opposite from the other end on whichthe impeller is mounted.